Indian Defence Review

When the Prime Minister of a nation issues a veiled threat of a nuclear catastrophe. When he hallucinates a defeat from a neighbour seven times larger than his own fragmented country. When he emphatically acknowledges training world’s dreaded Islamic terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and the ISIS. And deny that later. When he champions the cause of human rights in Kashmir totally at variance to facts laid out by Bangladesh’s Prime Minister. The World needs to sit up and take cognizance of a Prime Minister, who seems helpless and frustrated. And, who could unleash forces beyond his control and destablise the region.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her address at the 74th session of UNGA in New York, had hit out at Pakistan, saying, its Army had launched a “heinous” military operation in 1971 which triggered a “genocide” during the liberation war, killing 3 million innocent people. Has the world deliberately chosen to forget this bitter truth?

These were the Muslims who had once opted for Islamic Republic of Pakistan, way back in 1947. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran khan was seemingly ignorant of his country’s heinous past, and that too, rather shamelessly.

When Imran Khan’s officials talks of failing secularism and Gandhian principles in India, they are confused, unconvinced of their own country’s historical stance and the ideology. When Imran Khan denounces anything like radical Islam, while playing a global victim card. And he blames the West for terrorists in his country. Imran Khan appears so weird. The fact is that there are 150 UN designated terrorists in Pakistan and 27 banned terror outfits.

When chanting, La-Ill-ah-Ill-al-ah, and proclaiming a fight till the bitter end, the world should sit up. Imran Khan was actually sounding the bugle of jihad.

The world witnessed what India could not convince the world in past 72 years; Imran convinced them in just 50 minutes flat. The roughness that the world had probably ignored so far was just right there and witnessed.

Why is the Prime Minister of Pakistan so confused and frustrated, all after 72 years of existence as an Islamic state? Let’s try and profile the mindset of the Pakistani state. What are their compulsions today? Let’s not forget that they have been a strategic pawn for the Western powers for past seven decades. Pakistan was always a frontline state and over pampered.

So, lets trace out their history and analyze it from this perspective.

Pakistan was created to serve the geopolitical requirements of the Western Powers of the post WW II era, notably the US and the UK. The threat emanating from Russia in pre-WW I era was perceived to be the greatest threat to the British empire. India was seen as the ultimate prize for the ever-expanding Russian empire. A fear of setting of the sun on the British empire, should they lose India was too real. Under this assumption of threat, the Great-Game was played in Afghanistan for almost a century.

As the Indian freedom movement picked up in the late twenties, Gandhi and Nehru emerged as the face of this movement. These leaders had high socialist leanings. Something that made the colonial rulers uncomfortable. India’s independence was inevitable and coming. The Americans and the British got nervous, given their Russian paranoia and Nehru Gandhi leanings.

The projected trajectory of an independent India gravitated towards Russia. This was too scary and led to the Idea of Pakistan. India’s independence was around the corner, empire was untenable. As a strategic move, they mooted and supported the idea of a two-nation theory, Jinnah became its face.

As the Soviets turned the tide in Europe during the WW-II, and liberated majority of the Europe from the Nazi Germany. The Russian paranoia of nineteenth century got converted into paranoia of Communism of the twentieth.

India under socialist Nehru was bound to find the Soviets as her natural ally. The western powers desperately needed an ally in a post independent India to stop the Soviets entering the warm water of the Indian Ocean. And this ally would be a country carved out of west India called Pakistan. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan was born on Aug 14, 1947completelyout of strategic concerns.

Artificially crafted nation had an immediate challenge of unity. Urdu was imposed to suppress regional identities, and secular idea of MA Jinnah would be ignored and replaced by radical Islam in years ahead.

Kashmir immerged as a rallying point. A necessary prescription for Pakistan’s survival. The idea of freeing beleaguered Muslims from the clutches of infidel Hindus, gave Pakistan a great glue needed for its unity.

For British, the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the hands of India did not make strategic sense, in face of Soviet communism. The first Pakistan Army’s Commander-in-Chief, a British general, who served his country’s interest. It was Gen Frank Messervy, who had planned and over saw the execution of Operation Gulmarg to annex Kashmir militarily.

This fact got exposed to Major Onkar Singh Kalkat, who was still the Brigade Major of a Brigade located at Bannu at the time of partition. It was as early as Aug 20, 1947 when the British had planned annexing Kashmir for Pakistan. Major Kalkat on this day, had stumbled upon a Demi-Official letter marked Confidential for Brigadier CP Murry, a British Brigade Commander. This was an ink signed letter by General Messervy. The letter had the detailed Plans of Operation Gulmarg. The D-day was selected as 22nd October 1947 for the operations to start. It was to be led by Pathan tribals, supported and staffed by the Pakistani regular officers. And Bannu Brigade had a role to play in that.

On the other side, in the Northern region, Gilgit was an area of high strategic importance owing to its proximity and dominance of the confluence of Afghan, Russian and the Chinese territories. The British had leased it over from the Maharaja for 60 years and continued to remain under direct rule of the government of India through a Governor, till July of 1947. The lease was terminated as it was eminent that India was getting its independence. Brigadier Ghansar Singh was appointed as the new governor by Maharaja.

After the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir valley that started on October 22, 1947. Major WA Brown and Captain Matheson led 100 Muslim soldiers of Gilgit Scouts staging a coup. They captured Brigadier Ghansar Singh, the governor and put him under arrest. Pakistani flag was hoisted by Major WA Brown on November 03, 1947 and a provisional government was formed headed by this British officer.

In 1947-48 Pakistan could not wrest Kashmir from India militarily. The Kashmir valley continues to be part of India, which is now fully integrated since the August 05, 2019.

Since the partition of 1947, Pakistan in the past 72 years has continuously tried all the tricks to get Kashmir. It has failed again and again, be that in 1965 Operation Gibraltar, or in 1999 through Kargil infiltration. In 1971 Pakistan was dismembered and the fantasy of Two-Nation theory also failed. Bangladesh was born.

In 1965, Gen Ayub had grossly miscalculated the Indian resolve. Having faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of Chinese, India was shaken up. Gen Ayub saw this as an opportunity to wrest Kashmir. Pakistan military was vastly superior to India’s at that point in time. Their economy was better than India’s. Their military was equipped with the best of American weaponary. Contrary to this, India was still struggling to make good with WWII vintage equipment.

Pakistan launched operation Gibraltar in Kashmir. They infiltrated into the valley with a combined force of regulars and irregulars with an aim to instigate an uprising. Simultaneously attacked Chhamb. Their plan was to cut off the state of Jammu & Kashmir from rest of India before gobbling it up.

They seemed to have utterly misjudged the mood of local Kashmiris and the Indian resolve. There was no uprising, on the contrary, locals gave intelligence of the presence of infiltrators, leading to their capture and defeat. India blunted their Chhamb offensive and took the war into their heartland. Indian army was knocking at the gates of Lahore and Pakistanis had lost the strategic Hajipir pass at the time of cease fire.

However, as a revisionist nation, Pakistan claims to have won this war and serves this narrative to its population as a face saver. But not for too long, Pakistan army faced a humiliating defeat at the hand of Indian army in 1971 and lost half their country. Bangladesh was liberated.

Pakistan faced an existential crisis after its humiliation in 1971 Bangladesh war. Sindhudesh, a separate country for Sindhis gained momentum in 1972. Baluchistan was burning. Baluchis were raising up the ante under the growing aspiration of independence. The Pathans always had a hidden desire of Phaktunistan ever since Badsha Khan started the red cap movement at the time of independence in 1947. Basically, Pakistan was in a mess.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had no other option but to radicalize Pakistani population. And keep Pakistan together with an Islamic glue. Hatred towards Hindus and Hindu India became the central theme. Textbooks were amended to demonize Hindus. Frequent calls of Islam being under threat from Hindu India became a regular feature. There was a heavy-handed suppression of Sindhi and Baluchi separatism simultaneously.

Bhutto had wowed to avenge the defeat and humiliation of 1971 war. He had said famously, that the Pakistanis were prepared to even eat grass, in their quest for an Islamic nuclear bomb. And take revenge of their defeat from India.

For the western powers, Pakistan was always the frontline state. Gen Ayub Khan accorded it a formal status through the Bagdad Pact to CETO and CENTO. Pakistan received huge amount of military aid under these alliances. Though the equipment was for fighting the soviets and the communists, but in actual it was used against India in 1965 and 71 wars.

The history was set to repeat itself. This time it was the great game was being played out by the Cold War era superpowers in Afghanistan. Pakistan was the frontline state.

General Zia-ul-Haq toppled Bhutto’s regime and established the Martial Law, that transformed Pakistan once for all. The country set itself on the path of high radicalization never ever to look back again. The religious fighters (Mujahedeen) for them but terrorists for the rest of the world were raised through madrasas funded by Saudi money teaching Wahhabism. These terrorists were celebrated all over the country.

Mujahedeen were now the strategic assets for Pakistan. The USA gave all out support to Zia for building these assets and he in turn used them effectively against the Red army in Afghanistan. Soviets were defeated by these Mujahedeen or the jihadi terrorist force created to serve the strategic purpose. In the support of this proxy war in Afghanistan, Pakistan had received billions of dollar worth in military aid.

Gen Zia speed up the clandestine efforts to go nuclear side by side. The US was knowing fully well of the ongoing nuclear program. They turned a blind eye as a barter for the Mujahedeen services being provided by Pakistan. A huge amount of military aid meant for fighting the Soviets was diverted to Punjab and Kashmir in pursuit of the new dream: bleeding “India by 1000 cuts”. A policy enunciated by Gen Zia himself.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Zia had set the ball of radicalization rolling with a sole national aim to harm India. Despite all of their national efforts to bleed India, Pakistan has miserably failed.

Therefore, when, Imran Khan blames the west for using them to raise armies of religious fighters to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, he plays a victim. Imran khan says that the terrorists trained for fighting the communists, were left for Pakistan to deal with once the job was done. He conveniently forgets Pakistan’s strategic reason for doing a tango with the West.

It was actually their obsession of Kashmir. Pakistan was never fighting the soviets, Pakistan in the garb of doing so was arming and raising strategic assets in these Islamic radicals to fight India and replicate the Mujahideen model on Kashmir.

Pakistan has had a history of using Islam to raise irregulars called the Mujahedeen or the religious fighters and the Lashkars or the Islamic armies ever since 1947. Be that in 1947, Operation Gulmarg or in 1965, Operation Gibraltar to 1999 Kargil. These Mujahedeen supported by Pakistan army have always been the strategic concept to realize their fatal obsession of Kashmir.

Having faced defeat after defeat at the hands of Indians ever since 1947. Today, Pakistan seems to have totally lost the balance after India abrogated Article 370, a special status accorded by Nehru to Kashmir in 1954. This article was actually at the genesis of separatism in Kashmir, something Pakistan was making full use of all this while.

Today, after decades of war and hatred towards India. Pakistan has ruined its economy, its social fiber, and stands as a defeated nation with injured self-pride. They see the abrogation of Article 370 as the final annexation of Kashmir by India. Unbearable blow for them. They sounded the apocalyptic warning to the whole world through the indirect nuclear threat at UNGA by Imran Khan. China, Turkey and Malaysia seemed to have ignored the truth about Pakistan and supported it at the UNGA for their own vested interests.

For Pakistan, August 5, 2019 was thus the announcement of that inevitable doom’s day. The rulers of Pakistan had made Kashmir their sole reason for their existence, which appears defeated. Pakistan is genuinely frustrated.

With the Great Game shifted to the Indo-Pacific region and Indian strategic relevance at the fore. While, Pakistan having largely lost its frontline status and strategic relevance to the western world. The world has changed completely.

The only relevance that remains of Pakistan is the important role that they can plan in mopping up the mess in Afghanistan. In short, Pakistan is seen as a challenge in the short term with no much real relevance in the twenty-first century to the world’s economic and military powers.

As the world witnessed how Pakistan’s prime minister vented his frustration, taking refuge in medieval logics. Pakistan today is an utterly frustrated nation with signs of suicidal tendencies. Something that the world should not ignore.